I Won't Let You Fall
by pandarulezz1327
Summary: I have witnessed death. I have witnessed liars. I have witnessed more then any teen should. Now I have to face a new high school in a new country. I guess people really do like to kick others when they are down...
1. New Country, New friends, New Enemies

**Hello my friends! This is a HoA story! (If you didn't already know) It may be slighting AU (alternate universe) and definitely OOC (out of character)(Nina has a 'tude. She is more like me now… IDK might be interesting). Don't like, then don't read. I don't need you criticizing what I write.  
>ANYWAYS ;) I haven't really thought about where this story is going, but as far as I know there will be the traditional pairing (Nina+Fabian, Mara+Jerome, Alfie+Amber, Eddie+Patricia… and of course Joy can be a loser, all by herself… as far as I know, she will be down a hole for my of the fanfiction, or her and Mick can be alone together.)<br>Now to the fun stuff… well, almost.  
>Nope, don't own HoA… if I did do you think I would be writing fanfiction for it? (the answer is no…)<br>Enjoy my little minion's x.x**

There were only a few things that I could do in a situation like that… cry, scream, run away, or a combination of the three. I chose to cry and watch as my parents were brutally murdered in front of me. I cried, and cried, and cried. They explained in court that my parents were America's most wanted criminals, but I knew it was all a lie. I knew that my parents were not the couple that has traveled the world, killing like there was no tomorrow.

They have never even left Michigan in their lives.

The worst part is, after witnessing something that traumatizing I still had to attend school. Not even my public school, where I could confide in my friends, who I have known my whole life. No, my grandmother, who is now in charge of me, sent me half way around the world, to attend a boarding school in England. I would have to meet a whole new group of people, and try and survive with no way to contact my friends except a 15 minute phone call to the United States once a week.

"Ma'am, we are here." The cab driver said, pulling me out of my memories of the past weeks. I gave a timid smile, feeling jittery for my first day and my new school. The cab driver opened the trunk and opened my door, leading me across the parking lot. House of Anubis was the house I was staying at. The oldest, but supposedly nicest on the campus.

I saw a cute boy with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He looked me in the eyes and smiled. I felt a blush rise in my cheeks, but luckily the cab driver caught my attention… by running off towards the house with my luggage, leaving me all alone. As I caught up with the bad driver, I pulled my wavy light brown hair into a messy bun. For the first time in a while, I let the world see my green eyes.

Studying the ancient house, I shrugged."Remember Nina," I said to myself. "Things could be worse." I sucked in a breath and walked up the steps into the foyer, passing my cab driver. "Thanks for the ride!" I yelled to him as he left.

When I stepped through the large door, the room was dead. Not literally, but nobody was there…

"Hello?" I called out, feeling very out of place. I heard a door upstairs creak open and heavy yet slow footsteps make their way towards the staircase. I swore I heard somebody tell me to run away, but it couldn't be. Nobody was near me.

"Miss Martin, I am Victor. Head of the house, if you have any questions you may ask me. The basement and attic are off limits at all times, and you must be in bed at ten o'clock unless I say otherwise. Understand?" he asked, seeming to be giving me the must-know information right there.

I gave him a salute that I packed as much sarcasm into as possible. He scowled at my attempt at a joke and retreated back to wherever he came from.

"Looks like you are on your own Nina…" I said to myself, out loud.

I mentally looked at the email that was sent to me earlier that day, and decided to find my room. In the email it said I would be staying on the second floor, in the room on the far right. I walked up the old stairs, exploring the old hallway, which led to my extremely old room. I opened the door and saw that somebody else was staying in the room too. I sat on the empty bed, dropping all of my bags on the floor.

"I could close my eyes for a few seconds…" I thought, slowly drifting off to sleep…

I dreamt about my parents… no, I was DREAMING about my parents, but then a rude red-headed girl with blue and pink streaks, dark eye make-up, and fishnet tights under her uniform SCREAMED in my face, causing me to literally fall out of my bed.

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM!" I winced at the volume of her voice, and rubbed my eyes, trying to get some of the sleep out of them. I scowled at her for waking up, ignoring her question. "Excuse me! I asked you a question!" she yelled at me again.

"You asked two actually…" I said under my breath, just loud enough for her to know I said something. She sent me a death glare. "Please stop talking. Your accent is too much for me to handle this soon after I wake up." I said, sending her over the edge.

"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? Why are you even here? Where's Joy?" She asked, seeming to become generally afraid. I just gave a look that said 'what are you talking about?' I said a layer of tears cover her eyes, but she blinked them back before most people would have noticed.

"I'm Nina Martin, from America. I came here on a scholarship. I wasn't supposed to come for another two weeks but they said the last girl who stayed here moved out." I tried to explain. Obviously nobody told this girl she was getting a new roomy. "Joy's the one who stayed here?" I asked getting a nod from the strangely high-strung girl.

"You are a liar! What did you do to her?" She screamed again. I put my hands up in surrender, shaking my head side to side, giving up on trying to reason on the red head

"Trixie what are you yelling about?" I heard someone yell from down stairs. I looked at her as if to say 'you wanna tell him, or me?' she gave me a nasty scowl and shoved me out of the way.

"This girl says Joy left, but she was at school today." The girl called 'Trixie' explained to the African American boy. He was skinny and had a thin layer of black hair. He smiled a friendly smile at me as I walked down the wood, spiral like staircase. "ALFIE!" Trixie yelled, snapping him awake. I cringed at the level of her whiny voice.

"Sorry Patricia! What's the problem again?" he asked, staring at me smiling.

"She just shows up, sleeping on Joy's bed-"

"My bed." I interrupted. "It's my bed now…" I cracked my fingers, continuing my nervous habit. I have been cracking my fingers since my parents left, it kept my hands busy, and everybody thought that having that habit would be better than me cutting myself, so they let me do it without complaining.

"Joy's bed." She said, as if she convinced herself, it would be true. I just rolled my eyes and motioned her to continue. "Anyways, she comes in sleeping on JOY'S BED, all of her stuff is here, and Joy's is gone. Now she's telling me that she's my new roomy from America!" she flipped her hair over her shoulder, done with the conversation. "VICTOR!" she yelled as she ran back up the stairs, leaving me the boy she called Alfie.

"Hi. I'm Nina, nice to meet you." I said walking down the stairs to shake his hand.

"I'm Alfie. Nice to meet you too." I nodded at him and he let go of my hand. "Well, dinner is going to be ready in a few minutes so let's go to the dining room and I can introduce you to everyone." He said, almost bouncing with excitement. I started to laugh, but nodded and let him drag me into the room of the left.

When I walked in, the first person I saw was an older woman with chestnut skin, and black wavy hair, pulled in a lower pony tail. "Hi sweetie! I'm Trudy, the house mother. I cook and clean for all of you. If you have anything you need, come to me. Not Victor." She said, giving me a warm smile. I smile genially for one of the first times in a while. Trudy's smile reminded me of the one my mother used to give me when she gave me advice. I thought I was about to start crying right there in front of a room full of people, until a perky blonde ran up and hugged me.

"I'm Amber. It's nice to meet you!" She said in my face, very loudly and slowly. I looked over her shoulder at the table of people, looking for an explanation.

"Amber. She's from America, not a different planet." The girl who looked a lot like Trudy, but with straight hair. She stood up and held her hand out to me. "I'm Mara. I'm glad that somebody filled the empty bed so quickly." I smiled until I heard somebody behind me make a gagging noise behind me. I spun on my heel to look Patricia in the eye. I was about to say something but decided to not waste my breath.

"I'm Nina." I said to Amber and Mara, smiling at the hoping that I could become friends with them, because lord knows that I need them. Amber linked her arm through mine and leaded me to the table. She sat me down at the head of the table, next to the brown haired, brown eyed boy I saw earlier that day, and her.

"Okay Nina, this is Fabian, next to me is my boyfriend, Mick, next to Mick is where Mara sits and then after her is Patricia, who is also at the head of the table. After Patricia is Alfie, who you've already met, and then there's Jerome." They all said hello, and I smiled at everyone. (even Patricia who gave me a nasty hand signal.)

"So Nina, what's your story?" Fabian asked me after everybody broke off into their own conversations. I flinched a little at the question, but if he noticed, he was nice enough to not say anything. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I mean, we did just meet and-"

"No, it's fine." I said, cutting him off from his nervous ramble. I took a deep breath, deciding what exactly I would tell him. "My parents were-" I started, until I got cut off by a certain redhead tapping her glass. I looked up with hatred in my eyes, but masking it with a polite smile, as I learned to do after countless hours in court.

"I think it's time for the initiation ceremony." She said, smiling at Jerome, and then fixing her gaze on me. "Jerome already thought of what she could do to prove she belongs at Anubis house." She continued. I pursed my lips. 'How bad could it be?' I asked myself. 'We are living at a school.'

"She has to get the key to the attic from Victor's office, and then get a souvenir." Jerome said, with a wicked smile forming on her lips. He winced for a second, like somebody gave him a well deserved kick under the table. I widened my eyes, as I thought I heard someone say it wasn't a good idea and not to do it.

Fabian gave me a look as if to say that I don't need to do this and Amber's jaw dropped. I knew that I should say no. Even my little voice knew that I should say know… but somehow I said:

"Fine." as usual, I ignored what the little voice in my head told me to do.

**So there's the first chapter I guess. I know, it's kind of fast.  
>If you like it, I would really like if you guys reviewed :)<br>I'm grounded until April 7****th****, so I will have a lot of time to write, but I won't write unless you want me too! And I do have a better idea of where this story is going now that the first chapter is written!  
>COME ONE! GIVE MOMMA SOME SUGAR!<br>Or else I will drop the story and you girls won't get to read on about the sexual tension, and you guys won't be able to read a really nice cat fight. Just saying :)  
>OH-if you find mistakes in anything, you can PM me, and not point it out to everyone else, or I will track you down. Oh yeah. I will. Don't doubt a ninja. ;)<br>Yours Always-  
>youdontknowme1327<strong>

**Question-favorite HoA character, and why should I include more of them in the story?**


	2. Life Is Good?

**Wow… not as many reviews as I wanted… but WHATEVS!  
>Thank you so much for the three reviews :)<br>Now, the annoying stuff…  
>I don't own HoA, if I did, I would be counting money instead of typing on my computer…<br>Now to the good stuff… ;)**

All hell broke loose at that moment. Fabian was by my side trying to explain that the initiation ceremony isn't needed and that they haven't performed it since Patricia because it got a little crazy. Patricia was giving me a smug smile from across the table, as if she could tempt me to give up. Amber had a confused look on her face and Mick was trying to explain to her what was going on. Mara took the confusing moment to yell at Jerome for coming up with such an absurd idea. Alfie just sat there, eating as much food as he could fit in his mouth.

"Nina, you really DON'T have to do this." Amber said, after she understood what I was being dared to do.

"Look, I'm not going to just give up on this before I even tried!" I told her. I made eye contact with a waiting Patricia. "When do you want this 'initiation ceremony' to take place?" I asked, making everybody shut up. Looks like I wasn't the only curious one in the room.

Jerome jumped up and walked over to my chair. "Well, my little American. The day you get the key, that night you will go up." I cringed a little when he called me HIS American. I nodded though, and got up to head to my room. I needed to be alone for a few minutes, to get myself in the right place psychologically.

I unpacked my stuff, trying to clear my mind of any doubt.

I wouldn't be able to gain anybody's respect if I didn't complete the task. I wouldn't be able to gain anybody's respect if I psyched myself out before I even tried to get the key. Anyways, what's the worst thing that could happen if I DID get caught? I mean I could get sent back to Michigan and get to go to school with my old friends… but that sounds more like an award than a punishment…

I heard a soft, barely audible knock on the other side of the door. I put down the shirt I was folding and crossed the room to the wooden door. I opened it a crack to see who was there and Fabian was smiling at me. I gave a small smile and let him in. I cracked my fingers, starting to feel jittery.

Strange… I normally don't get nervous while talking to guys…

"Nina… I don't think you should go on with the initiation. It's too risky." He said trying to avoid eye contact. Normally, when people would try to tell me that they knew what's best for me to do, I would hit, scream, or shun the person. When Fabian said that to me, I just felt flattered. He cared about me risking my scholarship.

"Look, I need to do this. I'm flattered that you care about my safety, but I need to prove to Patricia that I belong here. For some reason she has convinced herself that I got rid of her old roommate and that I am evil or something, so I need to prove myself." I sat down on my bed, folding the rest of my clothes and Fabian just stared at me.

He sighed and took the shirt I was attempting to fold out of my hands. I looked down at my lap, rubbing my eyes, trying to make it seem like I was just tired instead of crying. He folded the shirt and handed it back to me. I nodded at him as if to say thanks and he sat down on the bed next to me.

"Nina, I know what it's like to want and prove myself. People here don't exactly fight to hang out with me. I'm kind of the science and word nerd actually." I looked up at him I surprise. Who would have thought a good looking guy like himself would be good with science and words. "Believe it or not but it's true." He said chuckling at my look of shock.

"Anyways," he continued, looking over at Patricia's side of the room. "When I first came to Anubis house, I wanted to fit in. Everybody made a point of not excepting me though. They tried to put me through the same exact initiation ceremony but I refused. Everybody gave me nasty looks for about a week, but got over it. I focused on school, found good friends, and now everything is fine. The people who tried to put me through the initiation ceremony have graduated and I bet that they wish that they could have gone back in tie and not be the jerks they were."

I didn't say anything. I knew I should have but I didn't. After a few moments of silence, he got the idea and left me alone with my thoughts.

Finally I cried.

I cried hard, and for a long time. All of the stress from my parents death, the meetings in court, meeting a certain red head, being harassed, being sent to a new school, and everything that I wish I didn't have to go through. I cracked my knuckles over and over and over again. I cracked them so much it hurt. I kicked the wall, screamed a little, threw my stuff across the room, and then picked it up because Patricia would have a fit if I didn't.

I knew that everybody in the house heard my break down, but nobody came in… until ten o'clock anyways.

Patricia slipped in wordlessly, just as I heard Victor yell downstairs "It's ten o'clock! You have five minutes precisely, and then, I want to hear a pin drop!"

I was already changed into my pajamas, and all of my clothes have been unpacked and put away in their drawers. I was hoping that I would be able to just go to sleep, so I could be well rested for the day to come.

I was in the middle of thinking about my schedule for the next day (which consists of the first day at my new school, and having to get the spare key to the attic, and then sneaking up to it which Victor made clear then going up there was OFF LIMITS!)

Anyways, I was thinking about all that nice stuff until a whiny voice started to talk.

"What have you been doing up here the whole time?" Patricia asked, seeing my tear stained cheeks and my puffy, red eyes. I thought I was about to break down in front of her, but I didn't want to give her the satisfaction. I wouldn't let her see me crying.

"Goodnight, I hope you don't slip into a coma as you sleep." I said sweetly as I laid down on my bed, letting her think about what my words meant…

**Okay… short and angsty chapter…  
>I promise everybody that it will get happier. Nina is fighting inner demons but she will let go and confide in her new friends soon. Patricia… well we know her… she is… yeah…<br>Please review :) I promise I will do another quick update if you do ;)  
>Oh and just to say again- It will get happier :D (and chapters will normally be longer…)<br>Yours Always-  
>youdontknowme1327<strong>

**Question-Favorite episode from season 2?****  
>BTW you guys should answer the question ;)<strong>


	3. Initiation Is a Go

**HAHA -CRAZYbutLOVABLE- Toats agree with you. That episode is the BEST! Not to offend anyone, because I love every one of my readers, but Joy is just not the greatest character… at least until the last episode where she realizes that Fabian and Nina will be together forever :)  
>Just to let everybody know, my goal is to put another chapter up tonight…<br>I still don't own HoA, but don't worry… I'm working on it ;)  
>Now onto the good stuff!<strong>

I woke up to an alarm clock blaring on the other side of the room. I laid in bed for a minute or two, feeling too lazy to turn it off. Anyways, it was Patricia's clock. Not mine. After the annoying continuous beeping, I turned on my side to see the other bed made, and Patricia nowhere in sight. I tried to groan, but it turned into a very long yawn.

I stood up, crossed the room with the intention of stopping the constant BEEP BEEP BEEP! just so I could trip over the rug.

"First day with your new feet?" I heard a familiar whiny voice. I groaned then, wishing nothing more than to go back to bed. It was too early to be criticized by my new roommate.

I pushed myself off the ground, grabbed my uniform and bathroom bag, and headed off to get ready for school, not speaking a word to the red head. When I finally reached the bathroom, I realized a shower would be a good idea. Having the hot water run down my head, trickling over my shoulders and down my body really let me relax.

Once out in the frigid room, I towel dried my hair, put on my uniform, and decided I didn't like these people enough to put makeup on for them.

I walked through the hallway, down the stairs, through the foyer and into the dining room. Everybody was there, laughing and talking. (except Patricia) I frowned slightly, remembering a time when I laughed like that… I shook my head. I knew that dwelling on the past, exploring the "what-if's" would kill me.

"Good morning." I said as I sat down next to Amber and Fabian. Amber smiled at me, but didn't say anything. Fabian looked confused, probably because of my freak out that I had last night and now I'm down here all happy… whatever, it's not like I can keep up the angsty-teenager act forever.

"How are you? Have you made anybody disappear or ruined another part of the house?" Jerome asked. I just gave him a sarcastic smile, trying to give him the hint to shut up. "So Nina," he continued, deciding to no give me the chance at a nice breakfast. "When will you be going up to the a-t-t-i-c?"

I gave him a very confused look. "Jerome, firstly, I'm impressed that you know how to spell attic." Now it was his turn to give me a sarcastic smile. "Secondly," I continued. "Everybody in this house knows what 'a-t-t-i-c' spells, so why bother spelling it out?" I asked. Mick, Amber and Alfie all laughed at what I said. Except I think Amber was just laughing because she didn't understand what was going on.

"Because silly girl, it is proven that it is harder for people eavesdropping to understand what you are talking about if you spell random words out." Jerome said. I had nothing to fight the logic, so I grabbed a croissant and took a huge bite of it.

Patricia walked through the door just as I was getting up to leave. We made eye contact, neither of us wanting to be the first one to look away. Amber caught the tension between the two of us and stood up and guided me out of the room. We left Anubis house without a word. I didn't dare speak until I was safely in the school.

"Thanks Amber." I said, not knowing what else to say.

"It's fine, I mean, I know what it's like to not get along with a roommate. I swear that Mara is trying to steal Mick away from me. She always offers to tutor him and have you seen the way that she looks at him?" she asked. I shrugged because I have only been there for a few days, and I haven't been paying attention to Mara and Mick. "Right. You've only been here for a day. What should I do though? What if he is only spending time with him to make me jealous? Aw! That would be so sweet… kind of…" she trailed off and I started to tune out because I saw Fabian make his way through the huge doors.

"FABIAN!" I yelled, before thinking what I was doing. He smiled and motioned me to come over, so I did. "I'm sorry about last night… I mean, the stress from moving here and starting a new school has just been too much. I promise I'm not always this angsty." I explained to him.

"It's fine, and I'm sorry. I know that we have just met and all, so I really shouldn't have tried and push you." I nodded at what he was saying, feeling guilty all of a sudden.

"But you were being nice. You made an effort to try and become my friend when nobody else did. I totally shut you out and gave you the cold shoulder. I wasn't being fair to you at all." He looked like he was about to protest some more, but the bell rang.

"Sit with me?" he asked, I was shocked that he offered but I nodded.

We walked into the room in silence, and basically went through the whole day sitting together, but not saying a word to each other.

At the end of the day, I realized this new school wasn't that bad. I genially laughed about three times that day, which was three more than usual. Fabian insisted that he wanted to be friends with me, even after I told him a little bit about my past. I felt good, great in fact… that is, until I got back to the house and remembered I would be stealing a key and sneaking up into the off-limits attic.

"Let's get this over with." I said grabbing Jerome by the sleeve, bringing him upstairs with me.

"The spare key is in that cupboard. You need to get Victor out of the office first, and trust me… that's not the easiest thing to do." He explained. I gave him a smug smile. Obviously this boy didn't know the first thing about me because if he did he would know that I could easily get the key and Victor out of his office.

I pushed Jerome down the stairs then. He let out a cry of surprise and I just ran into Victor's office. "VICTOR! Jerome fell down the stairs! He was just standing there and he slipped and fell." I heard Jerome groaning from the bottom of the flight and him cursing my name.

"What? Let me see." He exited the office and saw Jerome lying on the ground holding his head. "Don't worry Mr. Clark. I'm coming."

I started to look around the office as I heard Jerome mutter something like 'Oh joy…' I laughed at what I did, not feeling the least bit guilty. I searched the room for a key to unlock the cupboard. I saw the spare key labeled 'attic' and knew that I needed it now. I knew that this would be one of the only chances I would get to actually get the key.

"You'll be fine. Just ice your head." I heard Victor say as I heard footsteps walking up the stairs. I gulped knowing I had only a few seconds. I took out my bobby pin, picked the lock and grabbed the key. "Miss Martin, what are you doing in my office still?" Victor asked.

I stood frozen in my place. I shrugged and gave him a sad look, trying to convince him that I just was worried about Jerome so I stayed there.

"Mr. Clark will be fine. Just go off to your room." He said. I pretended to go to my room, but ran down the stairs. I acted all sad as I walked in. I wiped under my eyes as if I was wiping away tears. Jerome sent me a death glare while holding a bag of ice to his head, and Patricia smirked, believing that I didn't get the key.

"Jerome, I was hoping you would be a good distraction, but…" I paused, grabbing the key from my pocket presenting it to everybody. "You were great!" I hugged him quickly and he pushed me off. Everybody laughed and I felt like I was getting respect from everybody… except the very judgmental and hating red head who stormed out of the room when she realized I passed the first test.

"Look Martin, you push me down the stairs again. I will kill you." Jerome said, pointing at me. I gave him a warm smile and he just gave me a sarcastic one. I turned around to face the rest of my new housemates. I was smiling like an idiot, feeling proud of myself; I almost didn't notice Fabian leaving the room.

**Okay, I know that this chapter is kind of short (and maybe a little confusing-I promise that everything will make more sense soon… muhaha it's all part of my plot to make you keep reading :D), but the paragraphs are longer than what I am used to writing. And before an of you fother-muckers criticize me…eh…never mind… don't have anything to say actually :P  
>REVIEW?<br>Yours Always-  
>youdontknowme1327<strong>

**Question-Favorite couple in HoA?  
>Question 2-Would you rather me update quickly and have short chapters, or slowly and have long chapters?<strong>**  
>(Just want my reader's opinions, because I can make either of them happen :))<strong>


	4. And It All Comes Out

**Oh. My. God. NightmarishStar. I am so sorry. I cannot believe that you haven't seen the season two! THAT'S SO SAD :( I died a little when I read that :(  
>So… this is my second post in one day :) Impressive, I know.<br>I don't really remember the first season that well… because you know… I was so focused on the second season, so I'm gonna incorporate some season two stuff, but mainly I will just make some stuff up. They are still looking for the cup and all that good stuff, but I'm gonna make some stuff up, bring my best friend Eddie in, and loose Mick early. Also I'm gonna use some second season lines… because they are too cool to ignore :P  
>I don't own HoA… that's why I'm writing fanfiction.<strong>

"Nina! That was amazing!" Amber said. "I mean, I knew you were a tough girl. Not that you aren't nice, because you are. But pushing Jerome down the stairs just so you complete your dare thing? That was brilliant!" I pushed out of the crowd of my housemates so I could chase after Fabian. I didn't know what room was his so I just guessed.

Luckily I guessed the right one.

I walked in to Fabian sitting on the edge of his bed, holing his head in his hands. I stood frozen in the doorway, feeling that jittery feeling again. I knew that I was falling for him, even though I barely knew him. I slapped myself mentally letting myself fall. "Fabian… are you okay?" I finally asked, still not moving from the doorway.

He took a deep breath. "I'm fine. I just hope that you are." I didn't know what to say, mainly because I didn't know what he meant, but also because I was touched once again that he cared about me.

"Fabian. I'm gonna tell you something that I've never told anybody. Less than a year ago, I was sitting in my living room. I just got in a big fight with my parents, and I was trying to numb the pain with some TV." I felt water cover my eyes, and my knees started to go a little weak. I sat down on the ground in front of his bed. "I was living in my third home. I always lived in Michigan, and my parents told me that they wanted to leave the state… they told me about how they wanted to leave the country. I was furious. Michigan was my home, all my friends were there, all my memories were there and most of my family was there. I couldn't just leave!"

I started getting worked up all over again. Fabian slid onto the ground next to me. I saw the nervous expression on his face. "Nina," he finally said. "You really don't need to tell if you aren't comfortable." I started to cry. I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"But I want to tell you! I don't know why… I just know that I can trust you." I cried.

He took my hand in his and looked into my eyes. "I don't think it's time. I'm happy that you feel you can trust me, especially since we just met and all, but I don't think you're ready to really talk about it just yet." I nodded, understanding what he was saying.

"I was watching TV and my parents were in the dining room discussing plans to leave the country." I continued, breaking eye contact with him. "I heard a knock on the door so I jumped out of my seat to answer the door. I texted my friend earlier asking her to pick me up because I couldn't stand staying at the house with my parents anymore, so I thought it was her. When I opened the door, there was a swarm of people, who shoved me aside. One girl crabbed my hand and pulled me to the side and asked me to come outside. I pulled away and ran to find my parents. The people who invaded my home were trying to handcuff them. They fought them, and they ended up getting shot. I watched them slowly bleed out…" my voice slowly got quieter until I knew it was no longer audible.

"Nina, that's terrible." Fabian said looking a little queasy.

I nodded at him, not feeling as emotional anymore. Somehow, talking about what happened made me feel better. "In court, they told me that they were America's most wanted criminals, and that they traveled the world killing." I said feeling tears fill my eyes again.

"But you said that they never left Michigan." Fabian clarified. I nodded, and he realized why this made no sense to me. "I am so sorry. I can't even closely relate to how you must feel. No one should ever have to go through something like that."

"I expected you to be disgusted." I said shyly.

"No. I would never be disgusted." He said. "We've been in here a while, let's go get some dinner." He grabbed my hand to help me up and then let go. He made his way to the door but I stopped him.

"Fabian." I said before he walked out of his room.

"Yeah?" he asked, having a reassuring smile on his face. I couldn't help but smile while looking at him. He made me feel safer than anybody else has in my life.

"Thanks. I really needed to get that out." He smiled and opened the door, letting me out before him. We walked into the dining room in silence.

I sat down next to Amber and Fabian, like I did that morning and the night before. Amber smiled at me when I sat down, but returned to her conversation with Mick. I 'overheard' Mick to tell her not to worry because he only has eyes for her. I made a gagging noise and Mick glared and Amber made another confused look.

"So, Nina… who do you care for?" Fabian asked, breaking the awkward silence between the two of us. I started coughing; almost choking on the milk I was drinking.

"Who do I care for?" I looked around the room, hoping that I could find a distraction. My eyes rested on Jerome for a second, because I noticed a nasty looking red mark on his forehead. Fabian must have noticed who I was staring at, because he told me that I didn't need to share and he would understand if I wanted to keep it private. "I don't care for Jerome." I said, almost a little too quickly… almost as if I was in denial.

I mentally slapped myself, the second time that day, for letting this boy I barely knew mess with my emotions the way he was. He didn't even realize that they way he was being so nice to me and the way I knew he was there for me, even though I BARELY KNEW HIM was making me fall for him.

"You care for Jerome?" Amber asked me in a not so quiet voice. Now it was Jerome's turn to choke on his drink.

"Sorry Nina, I am not interested in dating anybody who has pushed me down the stairs." He told me from across the table after he swallowed his water.

"Point one Jerome!" Alfie said, giving his roommate and probably best friend a high five.

I felt a blush rise from my neck to under my eyes. "Don't worry, I'm interested in anybody who wants me to break the rules and risk my scholarship just so I can prove that I belong in Anubis house." I shot back quickly, trying to shake away the feeling of embarrassment.

"And point one Nina. Ladies and gentlemen, the score is 1-1. Who will win this battle?" Alfie said, encouraging us to go on. I felt Fabian's eyes watching me, trying to guess my next move.

"I think the one with the looks, brains, and wit to match will. And saying that the guy who got pushed down the stairs didn't have the guts to rat the pusher out is my contender, I win hands down." I said, making things up as I went along. Jerome stared at me, mouth wide open, and I just gave him a smug smile.

"Wait, did Nina just beat Jerome in a stupid 'who can tell the other person off' battle?" Mara clarified.

"Falls out of chair in amazement." Alfie said, making himself fall out of his chair to prove the point.

"Well played Martin." Jerome said to me as Mick explained to Amber what just happened.

"You as well, Clark." I said, smiling. He smiled back at me.

This school won't be so bad, I convinced myself.

That is, until Patricia opened her big mouth.

"Initiation ceremony tonight at 11:30."

**Dun dun dun!  
>And what will happen to Nina in the attic? Seriously I don't know… but I will when I start writing.<br>Aww Fabian and Nina had a moment :) …too bad it only happened because Nina was crying while explaining the death of her parents to him… OH WELL!  
>To answer a question that NightmarishStar asked- Yes. Yes we will find more out about Nina's parents' death. That will be part of the mystery in Anubis house muhaha!<br>Yours Always-  
>youdontknowme1327<strong>

**Question-What is your favorite line from HoA?**


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